VERY VERY worried please help

bikebarbie

Hello,
I hope you can offer some advice I am worried sick and dont know what to do. My situation is this (shortened version). I have taken an ex employer to court with the help of a solicitor who did what I thought a no win no fee because she felt I had a strong case. I later (about 6 months afterwards-under medication from doctors must admit Iwas so down and i trusted him so much i would have done anything he asked me to) signed an agreement that I should pay in full the fees as soon as the case ended regardless of the outcome. But I was always assured not to worry because my case was strong.

I went to court and the chairman basically stated that I have suffered all what I claim and the respondent did not deny that but all is down to now is "techinicality" basically if my claim was made a few days too late or not. This will decide if I win or loose.
During several meeting with my solicitor (on about 18 months) it was only mentioned to me (the delay in the claim) a couple of times ad very briefly as just to mention it (but not in a sense to worry me as it shouldnt be much of a problem) so when they offered an out of court settlement which would have covered my solicitors fees and left me something too, i was advised no to take it and go all the way.

Now I dont know the outcome yet (will know in about 6 weeks-but doesnt look good) but the solicitor sent a letter demaning the money. I am extremely worried, I cant sleep and I cant eat (i get indigestion everytime I put something in my stomach) I feel I have been mislead into believing that I would win without making any emphasis of the consequences if I lost. Also for being misadviced for not taking the money offered as out of court settlement. Also in my view is the solicitor error not to submit my claim in time. I wouldnt have known that legality that's why he was appointed!
I am also torn because the solicitor has been very supportive and someone to talk to when I was feeling down and through this very traumatic period and I dont want to turn against him but I cannot afford it (About £10K) and since I asked for a loan a few months ago to avoid a very high C/C rate I was declined I know that I will not be able to get a loan to pay the fees. What can I do? Please help!

jobbingmusician

Hi Bikebarbie - solicitors are scum, aren't they?

You have 2 problems here, as I see it.

1. Possible misbehaviour by your solicitor, in not advising you properly about the timeframe.

2. Not having the means to pay this debt (assuming that you do owe it).

You also have a third problem, if you are like me, and that is being ABSOLUTELY FURIOUS with the scummy solicitor, and with yourself for being taken in by them. Part of this third bit will be helped by support from here, and part will be helped by acknowledging it and then acting as dispassionately as you can

You need to address these things separately.

1. Did the solicitor tell you about the timescale in writing? Did they tell you about other aspects of the case in writing? If they did not advise you about the timescale clearly in writing it is possible you may have a case against them. I assume you are talking about an employment tribunal? - these are normally very 'hot' on getting your claim in on time, so if your solicitor did not advise you that you were out of time for an employment tribunal, post back and I'll give you some more advice.

2. If it does turn out that you owe your solicitor £10,000, your problem is that you have a debt you cannot repay. Get over to the DFW board for advice today, and get to the CAB or local advice centre (contact me if you are in London as there is a London-wide advice scheme called Capitalise) for advice about what to do about this.

Your problems DO have solutions - don't worry, you will get through this

tandeh

My experience with solicitors, even if you know them, are out to rob you blind.

Modern (legal) Thieves.

bikebarbie

Dear Jobbing,
Yes it is about ET and no I dont have any letters from him stating my case. All the letters he has sent me are in regards to answers to the third party.
As I said yes I was aware of the agreement but I did not give it weight because it was never mentioned in detail and always talked about my case considering the case "won". He never asked me what are my plans if I loose or how to work out a plan if I loose, it was never a big deal because he assumed we were in to win it and I think that he is also surprised that we might be out of the time scale. He mentioned briefly in a couiple of meetings, far apart, that the court could consider some events out of the timescale (not linked to my detriment) making my case out of time but as far as he is concerned that should not be the case because according to him they were indeed linked and if so would have allowed an extention of my timescale ( I hope I have not confused you). I was told not to worry about it.
Sorry but what is the DFW board? Pleae help I am so desperate!

LittleVoice

bikebarbie:

DFW - Debt-Free Wannabee (in the Pure Money area)

Best wishes

LittleVoice

jobbingmusician

DFW is the debt free wanabee board, another board on this site. At the bottom of this page, if you scroll down, is a 'Forum Jump' box where you can jump straight to it. The good folks there will advise you all about debts you can't pay. Your debt to your solicitor is no different from any other debt - it's just the same as if you owed £10,000 you couldn't pay on a credit card. They will explain to you about how to demonstrate that you can't suddenly afford the money and how to make offers of payment (but probably still worth going to CAB and asking them to explain it too).

If the solicitor has sent you letters outlining your instructions to him, and advising you what to do, and has NOT advised you about the timescale in writing, then I think it is very likely you have a case against them. You could see it as a good thing that you CAN'T pay them all you owe!!!

My suggestion (and I am suggesting that this is what you discuss with the CAB or Law Centre) is that you write to the solicitor stating that you cannot afford the debt, and offering a regular payment of £1 a month. AND stating that in any case you dispute the bill because the tribunal has now made it clear that the solicitor may have encouraged you to bring a case out of time,
and did not advise you of this fact in writing.

The thing about the regular payment of £1 a month is pretty standard debt practice, not something I have made up! But do get advice on this, as it may be better not to pay anything if you are disputing the bill because the solicitor has misbehaved!

bikebarbie

in any case you dispute the bill because the tribunal has now made it clear that the solicitor may have encouraged you to bring a case out of time

I dont know if I missunderstood this statement but the tribunal has not made it clear that the solicitor may have encouraged to bring the case..
Will now go and have a look at all the paperwork to see for sure what he exaclty informed me of. Will let u know asap. Please keep the advice coming I am so paniking/
I wanted to phone him tomorrow and explain the situation since we have always been in friendly terms. What do you think?

Could please a moderator remove my post from the DFW and move this post there instead? Thanks

tomterm8

Can you copy the original agreement to this thread (blank out any details that would describe your name or the name of the soliciter)?

It may be possible to complain to the law society.

jobbingmusician

Yes, I can see that when I said 'in any case you dispute the bill because the tribunal has now made it clear that the solicitor may have encouraged you to bring a case out of time' this can be read in several ways. What I meant was that the tribunal has made it clear (if I have understood you correctly) that you may have brought this case out of time. In my view the solicitor encouraged you to bring the case (they should have clearly advised you if you did not have a case because it was out of time. They have not done this.)

It sounds like a good idea to review your paperwork and list exactly what the solicitor has said. But don't panic - think about it, the very worst outcome is that you owe the money, and the good folk on DFW will help you cope with that and develop an AFFORDABLE repayment schedule. The DFW board is full of people with much bigger debts than this, who are managing their way through them without too much pain and can encourage you. So even the worst outcome is manageable!!

bikebarbie

this is the agreement in short

Your instructions: To advice and represent you in respect of a claim against your employer for ...
Agreed Action: To represent you in your claim for.... Initially to assess the case and advice accordingly. I have discussed with you the possibility of the fact that you may have to leave your employment given that you are suffering.....We will try and reach an understanding with your company and assess whether you will be able to continue with your employment. If this does not prove to be the case we will be looking to take this matter to a Tribunal should it not be possible to agree a settlement figure.
Duration of the matter: It is difficult at present to estimate how long this matter will take. We will need to assess on a regular basis.
Costs: It has been agreed that you will pay my fees at the conclusion of this business however should this matter proceed to a Tribunal you will be expected to pay disbursements e.g. Council’s fees. Our fees are explained in full in our T&C of business, however for the sake of clarity my fees are £XX
Next steps:
Sign docs and return
Draft ET form
Negotiate settlement
If settlement fails prepare for ET

The T&C is a separate sheet comprising of:
People responsible for your work
Charges and expenses
Billing arrangements
File Review
Storage papers
Termination
Communications
Agreement

Please let me know which one you want to read and I will write it although it's fairly long it will take a while please bear with me
Thank you very much for your help!

lotto-dreamer

Solicitors sometimes have to accept payment by monthly instalments as any other creditor would if that is all you can manage (over however many years it takes).

They'll probably make a fuss but if it's the only way they're going to get their money they won't have much choice. Even if they try to sue you this will most likely be the outcome they'll get anyway.

Don't panic yet - and get over to the DFW board as everyone else here is advising.

And definitely have a look at the Law Society website.